After third FYJC merit list, 1.3 lakh seats are still vacant

Of the 54,727 students who were allotted colleges in the third round, only 21,213 confirmed their seats until 6pm

After three rounds of admissions to the first-year of junior colleges (FYJC) too, 1.3 lakh of 2.7 lakh seats remained vacant on Thursday, the last day to confirm admissions for the third round.

More than 1.17 lakh students had applied for various colleges under the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) in the third admission round. Of the 54,727 students who were allotted colleges in the third round, only 21,213 confirmed their seats until 6pm, while 33,514 students did not report to colleges owing to various reasons, according to data released by the state education department. The fourth merit list will be declared on August 7 and students can edit their college preferences by August 4.

Meanwhile, more than 58,000 seats in top minority colleges are vacant owing to a recent order of the Bombay high court. The order stops linguistic and religious minority colleges from shifting unclaimed seats in the minority quota to the general list, as they used to do earlier, till the completion of the centralised admission process (CAP).

So far, the state education department is yet to announce how vacant seats from the minority quota will be allotted, through another merit-based round or first-come-first-served basis. Many students plan to wait till the end of CAP to try and get a seat in these colleges. “My daughter scored 87%, but didn’t get into the commerce stream in a college of her choice. We are now waiting for the seats to open up in top minority colleges. If students with high percentage settle for smaller colleges, seats in reputed institutes will be later filled with low-scorers,” said a parent.

Principals said with such a large number of students waiting to confirm their seats even at the end of three rounds, many students would join in late. “We are worried about the students who would come in late in the vacant minority seats. However, the existing students cannot be made to suffer. We will start the classes now and hold special lectures for those joining in later,” said Ashok Wadia, principal, Jai Hind College, Churchgate.